|
 Abusive and even threatening remarks have become commonplace on
the comment sections and Twitter feeds of the royal family, with
Kate and Meghan, the wives of Queen Elizabeth's grandsons Prince
William and Harry, particular targets.
Unveiling their "Social Media Community Guidelines", Buckingham
Palace, Clarence House and Kensington Palace - the offices for
the queen, her son and heir Prince Charles, and William and
Harry - outlined what behavior they expected from users of their
channels.
"We ask that anyone engaging with our social media channels
shows courtesy, kindness and respect for all other members of
our social media communities," the guidelines said.
They stated that comments must not be defamatory, obscene,
threatening, or abusive; be discriminatory in any way; be
"off-topic, irrelevant or unintelligible" or contain
advertising.
The protocol said royal officials would determine whether the
guidelines had been breached and anyone who did so would be
blocked or have their comments hidden or deleted.
"We also reserve the right to send any comments we deem
appropriate to law enforcement authorities for investigation as
we feel necessary or is required by law," it said.
Some 3.87 million accounts follow the Royal Family's Twitter
feed and another 1.69 follow that of Kensington Palace as the
House of Windsor seeks to reach out directly to royal fans and
showcase its work, with the overwhelming number of messages
supportive.
[to top of second column] |
However, while the palaces gave no explanation as to why they had
issued the guidance now, there has been rising abuse of Kate, the
Duchess of Cambridge, and Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, since the
former U.S. actress married Harry last May.
A source from Kensington Palace told Hello! magazine, which launched
a campaign in January to end the online abuse, that officials were
spending hours each week addressing sexist and racist comments aimed
at the duchesses.
These included a number of violent threats while there have also
been vicious online rows between rival supporters of the two royals,
and even those who report on their activities.
"It is not just the royal princesses who are being trolled, every
royal journalist, every royal correspondent is being trolled as
well," royal biographer Claudia Joseph told Reuters.
"People see their opinions as valid and I don't think they totally
understand journalists do research, that the royals have a job to
do."
Sarah Ferguson, the Duchess of York and ex-wife of the queen's
second son Prince Andrew, called on social media firms to do more
following the Hello! Campaign, saying it was not a matter of free
speech.
"Much of social media has become a sewer," she said on Twitter last
month. "Tech firms need to do much more to take a stand against
online abuse, rather than shrugging their shoulders."
(Editing by Ed Osmond)
[© 2019 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2019 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content. |
